DiffServ/MPLS Network Design and Management

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Abstract

The MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) framework is used in many networks to provide efficient load balancing which distributes the traffic for efficient Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning in the network. If the MPLS framework is combined with Differentiated Services (DiffServ) architecture, together they can provide aggregate-based service differentiation and QoS. The combined use of DiffServ and MPLS in a network is called DiffServ-aware Traffic Engineering (DS-TE). Such DiffServ-based MPLS networks demand development of efficient methods for QoS provisioning. In this thesis, an automated manager for management of these DiffServ-based MPLS networks is proposed. This manager, called Traffic Engineering Automated Manager (TEAM), is a centralized authority for adaptively managing a DiffServ/MPLS domain and it is responsible for dynamic bandwidth and route management. TEAM is designed to provide a novel and unique architecture capable of managing large scale MPLS/DiffServ domains without any human interference. TEAM constantly monitors the network state and reconfigures the network for efficient handling of network events. Under the umbrella of TEAM, new schemes for Label Switched Path (LSP) setup/teardown, traffic routing, and network measurement are proposed and evaluated through simulations. Also, extensions to include Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) networks and inter-domain management are proposed.